Women with dementia receive less medical attention

Women with dementia have fewer visits to the GP, receive less health monitoring and take more potentially harmful medication than men with dementia, new UCL research reveals. The study, published in Age and Ageing, also found that only half of all dementia patients had a documented annual review even though GP surgeries are offered financial incentives to carry these out. Women were found to be at particular risk of staying on antipsychotic or sedative medication for longer. This might be because they have fewer appointments where their treatment can be reviewed. 'As women tend to live longer than men, they are more likely to live alone without a family carer to help them access healthcare,' says Dr Claudia Cooper (UCL Psychiatry) who led the research. 'Perhaps because of this, they are more at risk of missing out on medical help that might help them stay well for longer. We found that women were more likely to be on psychotropic drugs - sedatives or anti-psychotics 'which can be harmful in the long term and may not be appropriate.